Baking Cookbooks

Your sourdough starter from the early days of lockdown may be long dead, but baking cookbooks are alive and kicking! With the weather finally cool enough in most parts of the country to turn the oven on, a new season of The Great British Baking Show on Netflix, and the holidays just around the corner,

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Holiday Preview 2023

We’re all familiar with Christmas Creep—the phenomenon of retailers displaying holiday-themed merchandise ever earlier with each passing year. But in 2023, it could be more shopping advantage than seasonal annoyance. Half of consumers are planning to begin holiday shopping before November this year, and many expect to get started in September. Some of this is

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Witchcraft

Witchy season is right around the corner, and every fall sees a predictable increase in consumer interest in witchy books, both fiction and nonfiction. Some readers are leaning into the Practical Magic aesthetic, which has gained a new generation of fans on TikTok. Others are interested in casting spells themselves, or observing Mabon (the autumnal

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Divorce

Researchers have found that divorce rates reliably rise every August. There is speculation that the summer, with vacations and breaks from school, focuses more attention on family and home life, sometimes revealing marital conflict. August also allows some time for the dust to settle ahead of the busy family gatherings of the holiday season. No

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September Reset

In You’ve Got Mail, Meg Ryan waxed poetic about the coming of fall and the attendant romance of “a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils.” Even for folks whose school days are long behind them, the back-to-school season can provide a bit of motivation or excitement. With summer vacations over and the holiday crush not yet

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Grilling & Barbecue

Summertime is barbecue season! Here are some of the top trends anticipated for summer 2023, according to Better Homes and Gardens and Barbecue Bible: International inspiration: Global and fusion flavor inspirations are big in grilling this year, whether that’s adding gochujang to a marinade or trying an entirely new technique like chichinga, or West African

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Creativity

We’ve all seen the proliferation of artistic content created by generative AI. From visual art to poetry to music, advanced technology is entering realms once thought to be solely the domain of human beings. At the same time, clips of a TED talk by Ethan Hawke on the value of human creativity have begun to

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Creativity

Teacher Appreciation

Teacher Appreciation Week is observed May 2–8 2023, but hardworking educators deserve our thanks year-round. Over the past few years in particular, teachers and other school workers have made it known that they feel overworked and underappreciated. In 2022, the National Education Association (NEA) created a video featuring the thoughts of several educators from across

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